Seven, Axiom SL, custom sized. According to the Seven website the frame/fork is scheduled to ship tomorrow. Build decisions abound. the LBS I am going through is a very small place. All about builds and repairs, basically no inventory, no shiny new bikes to be seen. Bike sales are as far as I know all done by order. The owner did a special order for brifters, and front and rear Sram Red derailleurs, which he would not normally stock, and the customer cancelled after the shop took delivery. He offered to me at his cost for the build to avoid any ugliness with the other customer because the guy really needed to cancel but it was too late to do anything about with the wholesaler so I may go for that.
Anyone ever ride HED Ardennes wheels?
Hoping for a break in the weather for a day or so in about 2 weeks! Otherwise I'll be skiing for a while before I pedal it!

Excellent choice of Ti builder. I've owned a couple of Merlins, a Moots and a Seven. Had the Seven been a 54cm instead of 56cm I would still own it (I think since I'm kind of slam,bam,thank you mam and on to the next bike frame). But Sevens to my eye are the pinnacle of Ti workmanship. At present I'm going through my Merckx vintage steel frame addiction, better late than never.

Hey LSD, I will gladly pedal the Gap on the Seven, though it will likely be next spring. The ship date just got pushed back and the upper portions of the road were glazed in ice this a.m. on my commute! I actually live on a little dirt side road just off the App Gap road about 3 miles up from the bottom on the west side. A friend once remarked that the first 3 miles were basically my driveway at the end of a ride.

If spring was approaching I would have started complaining already but since it's past any realistic outdoor riding in VT for the season, I'm okay with the delays. Just do it right. Ia m . . . tranquilo!

On the upside, I checked my frame status today and it changed from "confirmation received" to "your frame is in machining." Apparently, the tubes are all cut and butted, then meticulously cleaned, after which they will only be handled by technicians with clean cotton gloves (gotta love this company). After machining it gets checked for alignment, then off to welding. Yay.

Welding Your frame is currently in the welding process, the most time-consuming part of the frame building process.

Seven's welders are among the most skilled artisans in the industry. Indeed, their work has been referred to as "kinetic sculpture" for its meticulous, elegant look.

Oxygen, dirt, and grease are the prime enemies of welding. When any of these contaminants react with the weld, the metal can become brittle, weakening the weld dramatically. To prepare your frame for welding, we first remove, or purge, all of the airborne oxygen, nitrogen, and other gases from the weld area by forcing a positive flow of argon through the tubes. Then, we use a specially-modified TIG (tungsten inert gas) welding torch that immerses the welding area in argon gas. This combination of external and internal mechanisms allows us to bathe the frame in an inert gas--argon--and therefore maintain an oxygen-free environment during welding. To further prevent weld contamination, welders continue to wear cotton gloves throughout the process.

Maintaining an even flow of argon throughout the frame, we weld all of your frame's joints. To maintain proper alignment, the frame's joints are welded in a precise, staggered pattern. For example, we weld a portion of the right side of the head tube/top tube joint first, then follow it immediately by the left side, and continue to alternate section by section, until the entire frame is complete. This decreases the amount of post-weld alignment, or cold-setting, that the frame requires.

Because a straight frame is so important, we check your frame's alignment a minimum of three times during welding to ensure that it falls within our specifications. Should a frame show any signs of misalignment during the welding process, we alter the weld sequence process or cold-set the weld to pull the frame back into perfect alignment.

Once your frame has been welded and its alignment checked, it's ready to have brake bosses, cable guides, rack mounts and other parts welded on. These parts are tacked and welded to the frame using a method similar to that used to tack the frame. Specially-made fixtures hold the parts in place to ensure proper placement and alignment. After another look at alignment, we weld the parts onto the frame.

Ready for its alignment to be scrutinized one last time in final machining, your frame is not far from completion.

Your frame has left Seven's factory, and is on its way to your local shop where a skilled mechanic will build it up into your new bike. Best wishes for many happy miles aboard your new Seven. Please drop us a line and let us know what you think; we'd love to hear from you.

CK, unfortunately Comp Cyc does not appear to have the "stallion" build wheels on sale. The ones on sale have a max rider weight of 190 lbs. I'm 6'2 big guy and during the season float about between 185-190ish so I am going to pass. Being at the high end of the rider weight range and Vermont's very rough roads, I figure it's a wise decision. The stallion build is good up to 225 and is only about 2.5-3 ozs heavier so it would have been sweet to score those. Alas.

Yay, bike should be built up later this week. Will probably pick it up Saturday. Of course, the temperature this a.m. was -8 F. Not expected to be much better until a balmy Saturday when it should hit 20. Then back into the deep freeze next week. I figure now that I will have the new bike we'll at least get some snow.